Engineering Technology One Giant Step for MTSU The MTSU Experimental Vehicles Program’s lunar rover team members used a new airless tire design and parts assembly to land a top-10 finish at the 2016 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Motivated by a competition rules change regarding tires, recent MTSU graduate Thomas Kenney’s design and the machine shop work by junior Mechatronics Engineering major Kelly Maynard and others kept the MTSU entry among the elite in the international field competing April 8-9 in Huntsville, Alabama, after a best-in-U.S. and third-place overall finish in 2015. The event is held annually for university and high school teams to encourage research and development of new technology for future mission planning and crewed space missions to other worlds.
Leading Edge MTSU’s Department of Engineering Technology began a Mechatronics Engineering degree program nearly three years ago. During the MTSU’s May 2016 commencement ceremony, 13 seniors became the first MTSU mechatronics graduating class. Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field of engineering that includes a combination of systems— mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, control, and computer engineering. The program is based on a threelevel international certification program created by Siemens, a German engineering company. Program coordinator Ahad Nasab said he and the faculty are very excited about the first group to graduate. “They are very sought-after from our industry. Most of them already have jobs offered to them,” Nasab said. “We have really focused on this group. They have accomplished amazing things so far.”
Geosciences Speaking Science In the midst of a four-day visit to the campus she attended as an undergraduate from 2004 to 2008, Jessica Morrison shared the story of a career path that has taken her from Tennessee to Washington, D.C. Morrison, who majored in Geosciences at MTSU, spoke on campus as part of the 2016 Women in Science Lecture series, a highlight of National Women’s History Month activities. Morrison is an assistant editor on government and policy for Chemical and Engineering News, the weekly journal of the American Chemical Society.
Hitting the Road! Racha El Kadiri, who recently joined the Department of Geosciences as a full-time professor in hydrogeology and hydrology, and Warner Cribb conducted a three-day joint Mineralogy-Hydrogeology field trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. More than 40 students attended the field trip. Separately, Melissa Lobegeier held field trips throughout middle and western Tennessee for both her Historical Geology and Paleontology classes, and Jim Henry led a field trip to southeast Tennessee for his Geomorphology class. Geosciences students also attended the annual Geoconclave meeting at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Lastly, six undergraduate students participated in the national meeting of the Geological Society of America in Baltimore and worked as volunteers for both GSA and the American Institute of Professional Geologists.
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